Bearing swaging tools are used, for example, in the aircraft industry to fix bearings in place in bores adapted to house those bearings. The prior art provides several structures for swaging bearings to bearing housings. Attention is directed to the following U.S. Pat. Nos. references: 3,262,298, issued Jul. 26, 1966; 3,444,606, issued May 20, 1969; 3,986,241, issued Oct. 19, 1976; 4,318,212, issued Mar. 9, 1982; 4,428,105, issued Jan. 31, 1984; 4,476,617, issued Oct. 16, 1984; and 4,574,448, issued Mar. 11, 1986.
In the aircraft industry, bearing swaging tools are used not only in fabrication of airplanes but also in installation of replacement bearings during maintenance of the aircraft. In many cases the bearings are located in confined spaces. Many prior art bearing swaging tools are not useful in confined spaces as they require a drill press, or other external structure, such as a C-clamp structure, for application of the axial force required for swaging. Disassembly of the aircraft is normally required if these bearing swaging tools are used.
While U.S. Pat. No. 3,986,241, issued to Ruppe on Oct. 19, 1976, shows a device that causes axial force to be developed through a bearing bore, it teaches use of a motor unit to rotate a conventional roller swaging tool. The complicated structure results in an expensive tool which would also be impractical for use in confined space applications.
Another problem with prior art bearing swaging constructions is improper tracking of rollers about a bearing lip. This is especially a problem with twin wheel configurations such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,444,606, the use of such wheels resulting in scrubbing. While the roller configuration shown in Ruppe is an improvement over the twin wheel configuration, adjustability of the roller swaging tool for proper tracking is not taught.